Lives in Cricket No 19 - Frank Sugg

himself (he was a Christian Scientist), had probably responded to a newspaper advertisement of the post. There was a twice-daily ferry service from Liverpool to Dublin at the time Frank took up his appointment in 1893 (though the crossing took eight hours) so the school was relatively accessible to him. In 1893 the school had a fixture list of half a dozen or so matches and the standard of its cricket was not very high. Frank had very clear views on what was needed to succeed at the game and he applied himself to his duties diligently. He clearly enjoyed the role of coach and mentor to the boys. Each season Frank played in some of the school’s matches, no doubt enjoying himself and not taking the occasions very seriously; in one match against Phoenix Cricket Club in which he scored 54 not out, he is recorded as making ‘a sensational hit for 7’, no explanation offered. 91 Frank also helped with athletics at the school and officiated at the annual athletics sports day. He Away From Old Trafford 91 Clongowes Wood College cricket eleven in 1897. Back row (l to r): F.H.Sugg, H.Flinn, J.Anderson, J.McKenna, W.McCormack. Middle row: J.Kelly, T.Kyne, F.W.Christian (capt), D.Sherlock, O.J.S.Gogarty. On the ground: M.Spain, T.Flinn. None of Sugg’s charges pictured here achieved cricketing prominence; Gogarty, though, became a considerable literary figure in Dublin and later a senator in the Irish parliament. 91 The Clongownian , 1901, p 39. I am most grateful to Margaret Doyle, archivist at Clongowes Wood College, for extracting references to cricket and Frank Sugg in the school magazine for me.